On Monday the 6th of May 2019, STINT and the National Research Foundation of South Africa (NRF) arranged a well-attended launching and closing workshop at Stellenbosch University in connection to the SASUF Research and Innovation week in South Africa.
The workshop was a joint event in the South Africa-Sweden Bilateral Scientific Research Cooperation, bringing together researchers who were awarded the grant in the first call in 2015 with researchers who were awarded grants in the last call 2018 and will start their joint projects this year. In total, c. 50 persons from both countries participated.
The researchers who have been working on their projects since 2016 and now are coming to an end shared their achievements and lessons learned with tips to the new project participants as well as their own plans for the future. Their presentations indicate that the projects have contributed to some very good results. Several joint publications are now available, as well as applications of research findings in new innovations and collaboration with the community. One of the goals of the call was to involve younger persons in a project and it has been successful. Many master’s and PhD students have participated in the projects, as well as younger researchers, which in turn has led to new networks and collaborations at the institutions. Even though the funding from this programme will end soon, the collaborations will continue, and in some cases even on a larger scale.
Researchers from the 2018 call had five minutes to pitch their projects to the audience, who responded with questions and constructive feedback in order to improve the potential outcomes of the projects. We look forward to following their process and progress.
More information about the programme Joint South Africa-Sweden Research Collaboration
More information about Research & Innovation Week 2019: SASUF